Photography by Chris Tropea
Our Volkswagen GTI has gone the distance–both on the highway and on track–and its front end was starting to show it. With miles come rock chips, and sadly the car now had a few on the bumper and hood.
Fortunately, there’s a way to prevent them: paint protection film. Also commonly called PPF or a clear bra, it’s basically a thick, clear sticker that covers paint.
When installed properly, it’s basically invisible and covers delicate paint in a scratch- and puncture-resistant membrane. In short: Rocks bounce off without leaving a mark.
There are a few companies that offer films like this, but our go-to is Lamin-x. Why? Two reasons: First, the company is run by racers who read GRM. Second, we’ve used its PPF films in the past with great results.
The company offers precut kits for almost any car, including a $475 Clear Bra kit for our GTI. This kit included precut pieces to cover the bumper, hood, front fenders and mirrors, though we also added a $42 rear bumper guard to our cart. Lamin-x includes an installation kit, too, which consists of a squeegee and installation solution.
[How Lamin-x turned a race fan into a race team supplier]
We should insert one big caveat here: Like window tint or vinyl wrap, these films are usually installed by a professional. As with tints and wraps, that professional experience is worth every single penny they charge for installation. But we wanted to try installing PPF ourselves–how hard could it be?
We’ll admit to starting this project with a healthy dose of bravado. Why? Because we’ve vinyl wrapped a few cars in the past and figured this would be more or less the same process.
[How to wrap your race car at home]
Well, we were wrong.
Despite looking like vinyl, Lamin-x’s PPF is far thicker and more durable, which means our technique didn’t really transfer. Smaller pieces installed easily, but we found ourselves struggling with some of the larger ones. Either way, after a few hours of work our GTI’s paint was covered.
Of course, this wouldn’t be much of a story if we just put a few big stickers on the car. Does Lamin-x’s clear bra actually work? To test, we took the car on a 2500-mile road trip and a track session at NCM, and the results were exactly what we’d hoped for: We couldn’t find a single new chip or scratch on the car. We’ll call this a success–though next time we’ll gladly pay a local installer to put it on for us.
I did my Cayman a couple days after I bought it. I wish I did all of the painted surfaces since I got a chip on my roof driving across country.
I did all of the front clip including headlights, the fronts of the side mirrors, inside the door handles for nail scrapes, and the front and rear of the rear wheel wells for rocks and cones.
Experience through 3 Motor Homes, 3 M & ??? Forgot the brand "CLEAR BRA"
1. A 36 ft 2003 after a TTL of about 70,000 miles crazing & cracking 2011. Cost of a clean up close to double a touch up paint job as the stuff had to scraped & sanded off.
2. Brand new, 2011 44ft Newmar, factory installed, about 60,000 miles crazing started fewchips were into the paint BUT U could not peel it of, have to do a sand/repaint to get to pristine. Sold it as is 2018 next guy said OK..
3. 99 Foretravel, in 2019, Local knowledge said we can put it on but, it is polished painted cheaper to re paint the front end every? Yrs than double the price, to get that "S [stuff] removed every 10 . As it has about ? 30, 000 miles I guess on the front end paint job, we have put about 15, 0n it, carefully clean/wax the front. It gets good compliments
Bottom line my opinion, long haul not worth the $$$, get it touched up.
Now the Foretravel is on the market, Next a MIATA, or Something with 3 Peddles. White, or some easy match, no "wrap".
Just my 2 bit opinion, have fun,
I have 22,322 miles on my 2022 C8 Corvette with about 50 car washes, lots of track time. Not a mark on the front. One small chip in the windshield from a piece of broke cement flying out of a dump truck. I think it would have penetrated your stuff if it hit the hood, it was big.
So I don't think you have proved anything yet. Try just half a coating and compare each side.
Soooo, we didn't want the metal to rust, so we applied paint. Then we wanted the paint to last so we applied clear coat. Now we don't want the clear coat to chip so we're applying plastic wrap. What will protect the plastic wrap?
dangerdad65 said:Soooo, we didn't want the metal to rust, so we applied paint. Then we wanted the paint to last so we applied clear coat. Now we don't want the clear coat to chip so we're applying plastic wrap. What will protect the plastic wrap?
What cars in the last 110 years were sold without paint? Yes, the DeLorean, but other than that?
Really negative tone to things around here lately.
As a guy who gets the bills to replace this stuff after a collision...sheesh, I think I'd just rock on without it and repaint when the time comes. Seems like a lot of expense to protect something for the next owner.
I've read a little about clear protective film that can be put on windshields, but don't know how much it costs or whether it works. That's my biggest concern - not so much for actual big chips, but for the eventual sandblasting windshields get over time that makes it hard to see when driving into the sun.
In reply to dangerdad65 :
Bubble wrap!
In reply to dangerdad65 :
Molded silicone mask. Slap it on, drive, peel it off and throw it in the trunk. It's my new invention.
stuart in mn said:I've read a little about clear protective film that can be put on windshields, but don't know how much it costs or whether it works. That's my biggest concern - not so much for actual big chips, but for the eventual sandblasting windshields get over time that makes it hard to see when driving into the sun.
NASCAR-style windshield tearoffs? 
As much as I'm a detailing nerd who likes to protect the paint, I've never done PPF. Well, I've tried doing it myself, and I have neither the skill nor the patience to do it right. But I've never felt that strongly about it to pay someone. I guess I've also been lucky. The Expedition is 9 years old and knocking on 90k and there are still very few chips.
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